Obama visit hits the right notes

Posted onApril 20, 2009|Comments Off on Obama visit hits the right notes

Calderón and Obama

President Barack Obama received an enthusiastic welcome during his 20-hour stopover in Mexico City before the Summit of the Americas. At their joint press conference, President Calderón called the meeting “an historic event that will inaugurate, I am sure, a new era, a new relationship between our countries.” During the gala dinner at the Museum of Anthropology, Calderón said that Obama had “the intelligence, the charisma, and the sensitivity” to be an ally in reconstructing the relationship between the two countries. In turn, Obama said that he was pleased to have as a partner President Calderón, “a person who has demonstrated his courage, his bravery – a person who combines a sense of principle with a sense for the practical.” The guest list included Nobel prize winners Gabriel García Marquez and Mario Molina, essentially all the PAN and PRI national leadership, top business leaders, and the major union bosses. Almost the only PRD figure was Senator Carlos Navarrete. (Excelsior 4/17, Presidencia 4/16)